Arsenal legend Thierry Henry says he is excited with the prospect to lead the Belgian national team as assistant manager. The Sky Sports pundit was named by former Everton manager Roberto Martinez as part of his coaching crew in preparations for the World Cup in Russia.
The former coach of Belgium Marc Wilmots was sacked by the apex football body as part of the reaction to their shocking loss in the quarter finals of the Euro 2016 in France.
Martinez was appointed after his sack by the management of Everton, and he decided to add Henry to his coaching team. The move for Martinez took everybody by surprise, with even the bookmakers at sport.netbet.co.uk failing to see it coming – they had him as a 20/1 dark horse, with athe favouriets being the current coach of Belgian Champions Anderlecht.
Henry told Sky Sports that he believes Belgium can make ‘history’ with their current crop of talented and exposed players if only they can change their mentality.
“It is an exciting challenge, but one of the things we are going to have to work on is the team’s mentality to make sure they can become a great team. I am the second assistant, Roberto is the main guy and I will help with the structure and help him make sure that the team goes really far,” Henry said.
Belgium are in Group H and are set to battle Bosnia, Greece, Herzegovina, Estonia, and Cyprus for a chance to participate at the World Cup in Russia. Belgium is set to face off against Cyprus away from home, but unlike others Henry thinks it would be a difficult start. He also thinks Greece would want to change things as they did not start well in the last qualification.
Personally, Henry says working with the team would be very ‘key’for him. “What is also going o be key for me is the chance to work with that bunch of players. I used to see them as a fan, and now I am going to work with them and Roberto,” Henry added.